Numbers, percentages, bits of data; normally, we tend to look at these tidbits as information, useful for statistical analysis and not much more. Accounting isn’t sexy. Spreadsheet programmers don’t cultivate the same star power as lead programmers on video games. But numbers and raw data hold a unique and powerful allure their own – just ask John Carmack.

When Moore first predicted back in 1965 that computing power would double every 18 months, it’s hard to imagine even he could have predicted that by 2008, computers would be crunching a whopping 9,570,000,000,000,000,000,000 bytes of data per year. To put it in more modern terms that 9.57 zettabytes, or a million million gigabytes in total. The good news behind these numbers is that the vast majority of this data is a byproduct of CPU’s crunching numbers, and is not actual human readable information. Even despite these caveats however, 9.57 zettabytes is still a staggering number to wrap our minds around.

For a list of humorous, albeit completely unrelated physical examples of how much information this represents, make sure to hit the jump to read more.

Oh, Skype. We have you to thank for transforming thousands, of not hundreds of thousands, if not millions of people into cheapskates. I say that lovingly, for I, too, dream of a day when I can forever free myself from the confines of a monthly cell phone plan and run into the loving, warm embrace of no-monthly-cost, Skype-based chatting…

Okay, so maybe that’s a bit overdramatic. But it would be silly to think that Skype hasn’t radically transformed the way a lot of people go about their daily lives. In fact, some people do indeed subsist on this service, and this service alone, for all of their phone-based needs. And many more people use Skype to conduct business; to make podcasts; to call loved ones from afar, as is the case with Maximum PC dream date winner Magali and her French family.

In short, Skype is kind of a big deal. You know it, I know it, but… the one thing that you likely don’t know off the top of your head is all the different ways you can maximize your VoIP-chatting experience through the use of third-party Skype add-ons, software tweaks, and more! That’s what we’ll be covering in this comprehensive tips guide: Making Skype awesome.

I've spoken of the wonders of Chrome's Google Mail Checker Plus extension before. If you missed the memo, here's a quick hit: Mail Checker Plus drops a little icon next to your address bar that gives you a frequent update as to how many unread messages are in your Gmail account. You'd think that was it, given the simplicity of what said extension has to do. However, Google Mail Checker Plus dumps a ton of options into your lap for complete and total customization of this little icon and its functionality, including the ability to drop a preview window that gives you a quick glance as to what said emails actually are, as well as complete color controls and "always-on" SSL connectivity.

Great, eh? But frequent users of Google's services will note that there's more than just Gmail to worry about. What's going on in your Google Reader feed? Any new messages come through Google Voice? What the heck is Wave and how many unread messages do you have on your watery messaging service?

That's where the simplicity of the extension One Number comes into play. To find out what this helpful add-on does, and learn all about its extensive configuration options, hit the jump!